Farm & Food

​August temperatures are so far warmer than normal but not as much as you would think. Ormstown weatherman Peter Finlayson reports that the average temperature has been dropping each week by half a degree, standing at 22.0°C last week. Despite continuing hot days of 30°C+, the cool nights have been bringing the average down closer to the normal of 20.0°C for the month. The last August that was this hot was in 1973 with an average temperature of 22.0°C. Heat units are also on track with another 178 HU for last week, bringing the August total to 521 (755 is normal) and the total since May 7th to 2,363 HU. The rains finally came, brining 22.6 mm of precipitation during the week and another 18 mm this past Sunday, which brings the month into the normal range with a total of 86 mm. Areas north of the Valley received much more rain last week; some as high as 70 mm in parts of Montreal in just one day.

Stay up to date on the latest agricultural news across the province, country and world with the Farm & Food Briefs. This week's issue talks about Montreal's new zero-waste grocery store that provides producers with the opportunity to sell their produce in bulk, Quebec City acting as the strawberry capital of the world - for a few days, Quebec's 2015 agri-food activities, a new tax for selling quota and much more! CLICK HERE to read this week's issue.